How to choose hardwood floor

Reasons to choose hardwood floor

Motivations to install new hardwood floors in the home can be different, such as a practical need for a new floor, a desire for a new look, a necessity against health problems (allergies), etc... Hardwood flooring lends a warm feel, value, timeless beauty and elegance to any home. There are many different choices of colors, designs, styles, and types of hardwood floor that might even surprise you. These choices can range from modern to antique, light to dark, and narrow to wide. Choices of widths can differ from rustic wide planks to traditional narrow strips.

Different hardwood trees have their different natural colors already, but custom colors can be obtained by staining the wood floor also, which allows homeowners to tailor their floors to any house's style and decor. Good thing about it is that, the stained wood can be sanded more than once, restained, and refinished to restore the original color of the species or even choose a new one.

There are dozens of species of hardwood floor to pick from, such as domestics (oak and maple), and exotics (tamarind and acacia). Some species of hardwood floor materials have highly pronounced (open grain) grain patterns, such as an oak or ash. In contrast, other hardwood floor species have low pronounced (closed grain), such as a yellow birch and maple. There are also available a wide variety of hardwood floor cuts.

Wide varieties of hardwood floor species offer a wide variety of appearances to match any personality, style, and décor of the home. In addition, there are more hardwood floor choices now than ever before. No wonder, that many homeowners are overwhelmed and puzzled when trying to choose their wood floor.

What homeowners should consider before choosing the right hardwood floor?

Homeowners’ choices of hardwood floor species depends on their personal preferences and the effect they want to achieve at the end. The most popular species of hardwood floor are domestic trusted oak and maple, followed by yellow birch, white ash, beech, cherry, and walnut. However, homeowners can choose exotic hardwoods also, which are very warm in color and extremely solid.

First of all, homeowners should consider before choosing the right hardwood floor is the place where they want to install it and whether it is suitable there. It is necessary to check the moisture level of the subfloor because if the moister level is too high it is not recommended to install the hardwood floor, especially it is not recommended to install certain types of hardwood floor in basements. In order to avoid this problem, homeowners or installers should use moisture meters to test the moisture levels.

It is important to weigh quality, price per sq. ft, and installation preferences under different brands of hardwood flooring. It is also wise to think about traffic of the room where the hardwood floor going to be installed. The more traffic in the room the more durable and hard the wood floor should be. Normally, the length of the warranty on the hardwood floor depends on durability and hardness of the wood. In contrast, less durable wood can be suitable for formal living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms where normally less traffic is. How much traffic can be endured by hardwood floor can depend on its color. Lighter colored hardwood can resist more wear and other damages while darker colored wood is more vulnerable to dents, scratches, and other happenings. In addition, lighter colored hardwood can affect the room’s décor differently compare to darker colored one. Darker hardwood floor sort of shrink the room and lighter one can make it look bigger. The width feature should be kept in mind while choosing hardwood flooring materials, because the board width can visually impact a room. Having this knowledge in mind can give you the perfect sense of selecting the right width for your hardwood flooring board. Width of hardwood floor boards can affect the room’s appearance also, for example, thinner boards make a room look longer, while wider boards make it look shorter. So, narrow width boards will give the feeling of spaciousness in a small room, while wide plank flooring works well in a large room or wide area.

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